Gathering Music

“There’s a Spirit of Love in This Place” – Words & Music: Mark A. Miller

There’s a spirit of love in this place,
There’s a spirit of love in this place.
You can’t see it, but it’s there,
Just as precious as the air.
There’s a spirit of love in this place.

There’s the presence of peace in this room,
There’s the presence of peace in this room.
In God’s tenderness is found
Peace that passes human bounds.
There’s the presence of peace in this room.

O alleluia, sing alleluia!
We bless your holy name.
O alleluia, sing alleluia!
There’s a spirit of love in this place.

There’s a space for grace in our hearts,
there’s a space for grace in our hearts.
It’s in learning to forgive that our spirits truly live.
There’s a space for grace in our hearts.

O alleluia, sing alleluia!
We bless your holy name,
O alleluia, sing alleluia!
There’s a space for grace,
there’s the presence of peace,
there’s a spirit of love in this place.

Call to Worship

Daekyung Ko

(adapted from Katherine Hawker, Liturgies Outside)

Leader: Come with what you have.
For you who grieve this day
know that you are invited to bring the broken pieces of your heart.
All: Loved by one another,
we discover God’s love for us.

Leader: Come with what you have.
For you who come with gladness
know that your melody will find harmony.
All: Accepting God’s love for us,
we are called to love one another.

Leader: Come with what you have.
For you weighed down by too many ‘shoulds’ and ‘what-ifs’
know that here you may lay down the burdens of guilt and shame.
All: Loved by one another,
we discover God’s love for us.

Leader: Come with what you have.
For you who have the answers,
know that new questions await you.
All: Accepting God’s love for us,
we are called to love one another.

Leader: Come with what you have.
For you who come seeking,
know that your questions are safe in the presence of God.
All: Loved by one another,
we discover God’s love for us.

Opening Song

“When There’s Trust in the Room” – Words: John Thornburg, Music: Mark A. Miller

Prayers of the People

Beth Quick

(adapted from the UM BOW)

Let us pray for the Church, for our community, and for the world.

Grant, God of love, that all may be united in your truth,
live together in your love,
and reflect your glory in the world.
God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Guide the people of this land, and of all the nations,
in the ways of justice and peace;
that we may honor one another
and serve the common good.
(specific petitions)
God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Give us all a reverence for the earth as your own creation,
that we may use its resources rightly
in the service of others
and to your honor and glory.
(specific petitions)
God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Bless all whose lives are closely linked with ours,
and grant that we may serve Christ in them,
and love one another as Christ loves us.
(specific petitions)
God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Comfort and heal all those who suffer in body, mind, or spirit;
give them courage and hope in their troubles,
and bring them the joy of your salvation.
(specific petitions)
God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

We commend to your mercy all who have died,
that your will for them may be fulfilled;
and we pray that we may share with all your saints
in your eternal kin-dom.
(specific petitions)
God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Hear these, our prayers, O God. In Christ’s name we pray.
Amen.

Scripture Reading – 1 John 4:7-21

Pyeonghwa Lim

7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent God’s only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10In this is love, not that we loved God but that God loved us and sent Christ to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.

13 By this we know that we abide in God and God in us, because God has given us of the Spirit. 14And we have seen and do testify that God has sent Christ as the Savior of the world. 15God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. 16So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.

God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. 17Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as God is, so are we in this world. 18There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. 19We love because God first loved us. 20Those who say, ‘I love God’, and hate their siblings, are liars; for those who do not love a sibling whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. 21The commandment we have from God is this: those who love God must love their siblings also.

Leader: The Word of God for the people of God.
All: Thanks be to God.

Sermon

“Crashing into Love? Living into Love?”

Dean Edwin Aponte

Musical Response

“Let Your Love Shine” – Words & Music: Mark A.Miller

God has not given a spirit of fear
God has not given a spirit of fear
Let it shine, let it shine
Let your love shine
Don’t be afraid
Let your love shine!

Sacrament of Holy Communion

Dean Aponte
Servers: Dohee Woo, Marcel Okito

Liturgy adapted from M. Jade Kaiser, enfleshed

The Holy One be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to God.
Let us give thanks to God, in whose image we are made.
To the Creator of all, we give thanks and praise.

Divine Protector, Defender of Life, your love for this world is everlasting. As oceans burn and species go extinct, as our children are made vulnerable at school and our neighbors are denied at our borders, there is so much reason to despair. But you, O God, refuse to abandon us to destruction. Christ takes on flesh. In the midst of struggle, you are glimpses of hope, encounters of freedom, tastes of what satisfies when so much leaves empty. In these incarnate moments, we sense the closeness of your Kindom.

Holy, Holy, Holy One
God of justice and love
Heaven and earth are full of your wonder
Hosanna, among us

You, O God, reorder the world into right-relationship.
You lift high those made low.
You humble the arrogant.
You hear the earth groaning under capitalism and consumption
and your fire burns in the hearts of your prophets.

With this hope and assurance, we turn to the witness of Jesus whose teachings reveal the way to liberation. We seek his wisdom. We practice his courage. We remember his radical commitment to love.

On the night of his arrest, Jesus shared a meal with his companions.
He took bread, blessed it, broke it, gave it to his disciples and said:
“This is my body which is given for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.”

After the meal, he took the cup, blessed it, and shared it saying:
“This cup that is poured out is the new covenant.”

In remembrance of the love that saves us,
we proclaim the mystery of our faith:

Christ was birthed among us.
Christ was executed among us.
Christ rises again among us.

May the Spirit come and settle upon these gifts. Making this bread and this cup be for us a Holy Encounter. Reminding us that Christ is with us, that Resurrection is a promise granted to us, and that the Kindom is always closer than we can imagine.

May we be nourished, that we might nourish others.
Amen.

Blessing

Dean Aponte

Sending Song

“Draw the Circle Wide” – Words: Gordon Light, Music: Mark A. Miller

Draw the circle, draw the circle wide.
Draw the circle, draw the circle wide.
No one stands alone, we’ll stand side by side.
Draw the circle, draw the circle wide.

Draw the circle, draw the circle wide.
Draw the circle, draw the circle wide.
No one stands alone, we’ll stand side by side.
Draw the circle, draw the circle wide.

Draw the circle wide, draw it wider still.
Let this be our song: no one stands alone.
Standing side by side, draw the circle, draw the circle wide.

In your sadness and in your grief,
From all the pain, It seems there’s no relief
We will hold you Until the storm subsides
We’ll draw the circle, draw the circle wide!

Draw the circle wide, draw it wider still.
Let this be our song: no one stands alone.
Standing side by side, draw the circle, draw the circle wide.

Draw the circle wide, draw it wider still.
Let this be our song: no one stands alone.
Standing side by side, draw the circle, draw the circle wide.
Draw the circle, draw the circle wide.